When the new Stormcast Eternals were released last summer I surprised myself with how much I liked the look of them (I know, first elves and now this! Will this degeneracy never end?!). I didn’t like them enough to buy a box of them mind you but when the chance arose to snap up a few of them as single models at a bargain price I wasn’t going to miss out. This lady is a Vanquisher, a warrior who carves through her enemies with a mighty greatsword. Despite my newfound appreciation of these models I still struggle to muster much enthusiasm for the backstory of the Stormcasts, which often feels a little overegged. Apparently she’s very, very good at chopping people up though, and probably quite noble and heroic to boot. And of course Fembruary is the perfect time to get her painted.
As I say, I’ve got a few more of the Stormcasts around so although I don’t think these will ever be something I find myself turning into an army expect to see a few more popping up here and there whenever the fancy takes me. I might even try to get a few more of them done this month.
Convert or Die 
February 15th, 2022 at 7:06 am
Very nice mate, cracking mini and a bang-tidy paint job. I’m loving the red and gold, she could do a cosplay adeptus custardpowder!
February 15th, 2022 at 9:45 am
Very nice mate. A women to make any man nervous.
February 16th, 2022 at 7:35 pm
Cheers! Yeah, this is definitely a case where you forget that anniversary at your peril!
February 16th, 2022 at 7:47 pm
Cheers! Funnily enough I did have a plan to use Stormcasts to kitbash the old Adeptus Custardys, back in those olden times when it seemed unthinkable that GW would ever make models for them. (I just looked and discovered that the Custodes were released back in 2018! Utter madness, it feels as though it was only about a year ago).
February 17th, 2022 at 7:48 am
Well, 20 & 21 didn’t really happen, so it was only a couple of years ago really 🤔
February 15th, 2022 at 1:08 pm
Very nice! 🙂 The deep red and gold do work well together!
February 16th, 2022 at 7:52 pm
Cheers! I tried to put my own spin on the classic scheme for the faction and I think it works well (ironically I borrowed a lot of it from the studio scheme for a different GW faction and passed it off as original thinking – let’s hope word of that never gets out!).
February 15th, 2022 at 10:55 pm
Lovely work.
Cheers,
Pete.
February 16th, 2022 at 7:48 pm
Thanks – I’m having a lot of fun with them (something I never thought I’d write a few years ago!).
February 16th, 2022 at 8:23 am
Great work man. The red and gold are lovely
February 16th, 2022 at 8:18 pm
Cheers dude – I’m having a lot of fun with these. 🙂
February 17th, 2022 at 1:39 am
There’s no shame in painting some fantasy space marines, mate! 😉 She turned out nicely and I find that GW makes some Stormcast that are not that great but they do mix in some pretty great sculpts too. The fact that you can paint Stormcast just about any way you want is really cool too. I find them a bit easier to paint than space marines because they have less “round” surfaces which are trickier to paint. I’ll be curious to see what other Stormcast you’ve got kicking around when you get around to them! 🙂
February 21st, 2022 at 6:18 pm
I was reading recently that one of GW’s most popular models in the early days were the Chaos Warriors and so when they started 40k they looked for a way to introduce big dudes in heavy armour and came up with Space Marines. Then, as we know, Space Marines became so popular that the concept was brought back to a fantasy setting as the Stormcasts. It’s interesting if true and certainly there are some of the Stormcasts which would make for excellent Chaos Lords with a little converting.
I’m completely in agreement with you that Stormcasts are easier to paint than Space Marines and for the same reasons, all those rounded surfaces are much harder to handle (in my book at any rate).
February 22nd, 2022 at 2:58 am
That is an interesting “origin” story. I hadn’t heard that before it makes an awful lot of sense to me as well. I think GW realized that a faction like Stormcast which can kind of be anything you want them to be (paint scheme wise anyway) like Space Marines are in 40k would be a better seller than having Empire be the main good fantasy faction too. I have no proof of this theory but I base it on when I bought the old Warhammer fantasy starter with them and Orks in it. I quickly realized the elves, dwarves and Bretonnians were way cooler looking! Of course, the Vampire Counts and Ogres overtook those later on too and I never got anything close to an army finished as a result 🙂
February 24th, 2022 at 10:06 am
Yup, your story sounds a lot like mine. For me it was Skaven, Vampire Counts, Ogres, Dwarves, Orcs and Goblins and Warriors of Chaos but I didn’t have the cash to buy models for one of those armies let alone all of them so I mostly pressed my nose against the shop window and dreamed.
The thing with the Empire is, much as I like them in principle – and I love the idea of a man who can’t afford shoes going out to fight hulking heavily armoured barbarians, the look that John Blanche called “the aesthetic of the pathetic” – they don’t have the instant “cool” factor of Space Marines or even some of the other fantasy races. When I was a kid and first encountering Warhammer the Empire didn’t do much for me or my mates, especially not when compared to the likes of Orcs or Chaos. Even the Imperial Guard in 40k have a lot more intrinsic appeal, being an extension of war movies and toy soldiers, than their fantasy equivalent. I do still think GW should bring in some kind of non-Chaos “ordinary people” to AoS, rather than just reusing the (frankly out of place looking) Empire/Dwarf/Elf models in the way they do now. However they needed something like the Stormcasts front and centre, they grab the attention in a way that the Empire never could.
One other thing I will add though is that I can put myself in the shoes (assuming he owns some) of an Empire soldier, but I really struggle to get inside the head of a Stormcast, or see myself reflected in them. That said I can see myself in an Orc warboss or a Chaos Lord, but that probably says more about me than it does about them!
February 25th, 2022 at 2:41 am
That’s all well said, mate! I agree that Stormcast (and space marines) aren’t that relatable. They’re not even really human anymore, let alone the huge hulked out armor that they wear. The Empire at least looked like regular people even if they’re really outmatched! I guess the war machines, mages, and fundamentalists of Sigmar were supposed to see them through against the huge brutes of the Chaos wastes up north! 🙂
February 19th, 2022 at 11:50 am
Nice painting here, I really like the simplicity of the armour and robes. She’s surprisingly understated by the standards of Stormcast Eternals too.
February 21st, 2022 at 8:33 pm
Cheers! Yeah, she’s nice and straightforward, there’s nothing fancy here and no need for it. 🙂
February 20th, 2022 at 6:00 pm
Definitely a cool model, and your paint job works very well on her. The base is also really nice, the green tufts bring an extra color that works so well with the red cloth.
February 23rd, 2022 at 1:46 pm
Thank you! Yeah, the tufts suit nicely – really just a coincidence because those are the ones I had available, but they go well with the red (and the base would look very bare without them).
April 7th, 2022 at 8:20 pm
Ah! Back to this model! I read this post some time ago but clearly didn’t get to comment (a difficulty with phone browsing, etc). The first time I saw this model in your post, I actually thought she was the hero from Cursed City before I got to reading it!
May 30th, 2022 at 9:54 pm
I have the exact same issue with browsing on the phone, I’ll read posts when I’m out and about but I find it tricky to comment and then months go by before I get around to it. She does look a bit like the lady from Cursed City doesn’t she? Glad I was able to inspire you there, and cheers for the shout out – at some point soon I shall endeavour to get the finger out and actually comment on that post properly as well…
June 3rd, 2022 at 2:08 am
Yeah, happens all the time, especially when I’m out. I’ve got this set as well as it turns out, but not sure when I should get to my Stormcast. I should probably do the Underworlds set of three first – only three of them and then it lets me potentially play something one day!
May 15th, 2022 at 3:31 pm
[…] relatively recently! I started painting Emelda here after being inspired by seeing the female Stormcast Vanquisher painted by Wudugast, the creator behind the Convert or Die blog. When I first saw Wudu’s […]
June 23rd, 2022 at 9:10 am
[…] The month’s models were pretty obviously dominated by models completed as part of this year’s Monster MAYhem challenge over at Dead Dick’s Tavern and Temporary Lodging, but I’ll chat a little more about that later. I did finally get Cursed City’s Emelda Braskov completed, initially inspired by one of Wudugast’s models. […]